Post by Stephen Crosby on Jul 31, 2009 20:14:23 GMT -5
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By now there's no point in writing about how great Uncanny X-Men is. I've sung it's praises before and will likely continue to do so. I saw parallels between the lack of response to Mutant Town's troubles and the disaster of Katrina. I laughed at Bryan's dead-on voice for Emma Frost and the thought of her with an STD. The linking of Unity with Golgatha and Caliban's worship for it had me squealing.
There continue to be flashbacks with Xavier. This one is perhaps my favorite yet, between Xavier and an Emma Frost from the Hellfire Club era. I have dreamed of writing such a conversation, even attempted to twice and given up because I simply couldn't. Here Bryan not only did it but did it well, and for that I salute him.
But what really excited me was the ending. I have been a fan of the X-Cutioner since his first appearance, which I own. The premise was simple: an FBI agent who's partner had ties to the X-Men, X-Cutioner came across files and alien technology after said partner's death. Using these resources, X-Cutioner hunted mutant killers. Right away we had a character with ties to the X-Men's past, and served as a human foil who wasn't a bigot. This was simply a lawman who believed he had to use extraordinary measures against extraordinary criminals.
Sadly, X-Cutioner was saddled with problems. First, he was a complete failure. One kill in his first appearance. Following this, he was unable to kill: a dying man, a woman in a coma, and a teenager who's mutant power was extra skin. Clearly he set his sights low, but come on!
Second, for an FBI agent, this guy was an idiot. The teenager with extra skin was...Skin of Generation X, who had apparently faked his own death. So X-Cutioner was hunting him for the death of...himself.
There was some good potential to this character. His weapons were capable of incapacitating Colossus, and he was able to survive attacks from the likes of Storm and X-Man. So he was a threat, but aside from his first kill there was no real justification for his attacks. Right away this damaged the credibility of his premise, painting him as merely another sadistic bigot who went after easy targets, and as incompetent when he failed. Needless to say, he quickly disappeared.
Until now.
Yes, Bryan has brought X-Cutioner back. This is a writer I trust to bring out the character's potential, and right away he starts off right. With a dead-on visual description that paints the character as both a knight and an executioner, and with the perfect choice of dialogue, Bryan introduces X-Cutioner with the right amount of information that begs questions. Is X-Cutioner here as a villain or as a hero?
I can't wait to find out next issue, and I can't wait to see X-Cutioner in action. Along with, hopefully, another Xavier flashback.
P
O
I
L
E
R
S
By now there's no point in writing about how great Uncanny X-Men is. I've sung it's praises before and will likely continue to do so. I saw parallels between the lack of response to Mutant Town's troubles and the disaster of Katrina. I laughed at Bryan's dead-on voice for Emma Frost and the thought of her with an STD. The linking of Unity with Golgatha and Caliban's worship for it had me squealing.
There continue to be flashbacks with Xavier. This one is perhaps my favorite yet, between Xavier and an Emma Frost from the Hellfire Club era. I have dreamed of writing such a conversation, even attempted to twice and given up because I simply couldn't. Here Bryan not only did it but did it well, and for that I salute him.
But what really excited me was the ending. I have been a fan of the X-Cutioner since his first appearance, which I own. The premise was simple: an FBI agent who's partner had ties to the X-Men, X-Cutioner came across files and alien technology after said partner's death. Using these resources, X-Cutioner hunted mutant killers. Right away we had a character with ties to the X-Men's past, and served as a human foil who wasn't a bigot. This was simply a lawman who believed he had to use extraordinary measures against extraordinary criminals.
Sadly, X-Cutioner was saddled with problems. First, he was a complete failure. One kill in his first appearance. Following this, he was unable to kill: a dying man, a woman in a coma, and a teenager who's mutant power was extra skin. Clearly he set his sights low, but come on!
Second, for an FBI agent, this guy was an idiot. The teenager with extra skin was...Skin of Generation X, who had apparently faked his own death. So X-Cutioner was hunting him for the death of...himself.
There was some good potential to this character. His weapons were capable of incapacitating Colossus, and he was able to survive attacks from the likes of Storm and X-Man. So he was a threat, but aside from his first kill there was no real justification for his attacks. Right away this damaged the credibility of his premise, painting him as merely another sadistic bigot who went after easy targets, and as incompetent when he failed. Needless to say, he quickly disappeared.
Until now.
Yes, Bryan has brought X-Cutioner back. This is a writer I trust to bring out the character's potential, and right away he starts off right. With a dead-on visual description that paints the character as both a knight and an executioner, and with the perfect choice of dialogue, Bryan introduces X-Cutioner with the right amount of information that begs questions. Is X-Cutioner here as a villain or as a hero?
I can't wait to find out next issue, and I can't wait to see X-Cutioner in action. Along with, hopefully, another Xavier flashback.